


A Different Sort of Start

by Dreamshaper



Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: Again, F/F, Fluff, I'm hopeless lol, alternate beginning, this started as a one-shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-04
Updated: 2020-01-27
Packaged: 2021-02-26 19:14:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 14,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21673651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dreamshaper/pseuds/Dreamshaper
Summary: Erin and Holtzmann have met before Erin discovered the book online. Once. Erin didn't think she'd ever meet Holtzmann again.
Relationships: Erin Gilbert/Jillian Holtzmann
Comments: 50
Kudos: 111





	1. Chapter 1

Erin was seething, and it was all her boyfriend’s fault.   
  
Or perhaps, she bitterly thought to herself, her ex-boyfriend; after how he just had treated her, being unsupportive, uncaring and even condescing, she truly didn’t feel like being his girlfriend anymore. __

“But Erin”, she imitated him as she sat in her office, staring at her screen without seeing any of the words on it, “Dr Filmore is right, tenure is not given easily and certainly not to someone as young as you. You still need to prove yourself!”

She felt like throwing something, but had nothing at hand, except for her mug from Princeton and she didn’t want to have it shatter against the wall or on the floor; and so, she seethed quietly instead, glaring at her monitor as if said device was to blame.

“Too young”, she grumbled, fingers clenching and unclenching beneath her desk, “prove myself?! I’m in my forties, with three dozen publications! How dare he!”

Technically, since she had no further classes to teach that day, Erin should be working on getting her next publication finished; with how angry she was though, she knew she wouldn’t be able to focus, and so, she shut down her computer instead, grabbed her bag and headed out, ignoring Phil when he called out to her as she breezed past him.

Someone who truly cared for her, she bitterly thought to herself as she made her way to the exit, would have gone after her at her lack of reaction, just to make sure she was okay; Phil didn’t bother to though, not even calling out for her again after the ignored first try, only convincing her further that breaking up with him would be the right thing to do.

_ He doesn’t even care,  _ she thought to herself, her anger fading and being replaced with bitterness; she wasn’t sad, not yet, but she knew the moment would come, sadness at having wasted time on him and at how hard she had been trying to be accepted and respected at Columbia, only to have been told more or less subtly that no matter how hard and much she worked, it still wasn’t enough.

_ I work twice as hard as any man at this place,  _ she through to herself, the anger coming back now,  _ and if I was Dr Eric Gilbert, I would be tenured by now! But no, I’m not, so I have to work three times as hard to get half the respect, so a bunch of crusty old white men won’t get upset at a woman getting tenure at their beloved university! _

The anger was burning bright and hot within her now, and Erin knew that for the moment, all she could do was let it burn; in her attempt to fit in at Columbia, at being respected, she had perfected the art of keeping her emotions hidden, but she didn’t feel like doing so now, and so, she looked as angry as she felt, anyone who crossed her way making sure to give her a wide berth after taking one look at her.

For a while, Erin just walked, one hand tightly clenched around the handle of her briefcase, the other forming a just as tight fist; she didn’t look where she was going, and she didn’t care, just eager to walk, get rid of some of her anger like this, knowing that it sometimes had helped when she had been in high school and college.

It had helped back then, with her anger, but it hadn’t helped with the shame and guilt she had felt after what she had done to Abby, she knew she could have walked a thousand miles back then and it wouldn’t have helped.

_ No _ , she strictly told herself, shaking her head for emphasis, for once not caring if anyone saw her and what they thought of her when she did,  _ do not think about this now. This leads nowhere. Abby isn’t your friend anymore, you can’t run to her for comfort, and you do not need the guilt for this right now. You messed up with Abby, big time, but how they treat you at Columbia, that is  _ not  _ your fault. _

She knew that this was true, but still the momentary flash of guilt had burned some of her anger away; she was still walking, but now she began to feel tired, and her feet started to hurt - courtesy of the high heels she wore to work every day, even though it wasn’t fun to walk around in them for hours - and the need to walk lessened as her discomfort grew.

Thankfully, she spotted a bar up ahead, the lit up sign showing that it was open and ready for her business; and she was quite ready to give them that, one of those rare times in her life she felt like she didn’t just want a drink, but needed one, even though part of her knew it wouldn’t help, not in the long run.

For now though, Erin didn’t care about the long run, only about getting her mind off of what had happened; and so, she pushed the bar’s door open and stepped inside, into the welcome dimness of the interior, soft music playing as if to greet her, and she figured that, at least for a while, she’d be able to forget all her troubles there.

* * *

Erin didn’t know how long she had been sitting at the bar, nursing drink after drink, when someone slid into the seat next to her; and she didn’t bother looking at the newcomer, a few guests had come and gone in the time she had spent there, and none of them had spoken to her, all of them either seeing or feeling the sour mood she was in and leaving her alone.

“Come here often?”

Obviously, this newcomer had other ideas, Erin sourly thought to herself as she glanced at the woman who had spoken to her, but at least, it was a woman and not a man, because the last thing she needed at this point would be some guy trying to hit on her.

“No, you don’t”, the woman answered her own question, unperturbed by the look Erin gave her, “cause I do, and I’ve never seen you before.”

Erin just shrugged, not sure what to reply to that; she finished her drink instead, and the moment she put the glass down, the woman waved for the barkeep, raising her own empty bottle with her other hand.

“Yo, Jim”, she called out to the barkeep, “another one for me and my friend here!”

“My name is Rudolph”, the barkeep replied, with a long-suffering sigh, telling Erin this wasn’t the first time he had this exchange with the woman, “as you know.  _ Jillian. _ ”

“I never should have told you my first name”, the woman declared in response, not sounding annoyed though, while Erin took a discreet, but closer look at her; she certainly didn’t look like a Jillian, the physicist thought to herself, with her paint splattered overalls, the fingerless leather gloves, the steel frame glasses with yellow lenses and the wild mess her hair was on top of her head, “I knew you would use it against me, you wound me so. Okay, fine. One more for my friend and me here, Rudolph.”

“Coming right up”, the barkeep replied, winking at the blonde and making her pout; confused by this exchange, Erin couldn’t even give proper thanks when the drink was put down in front of her a few moments later, the other woman not all too bothered though, lifting her bottle as she gave the redhead a smirk.

“I give him a new name every time I come here”, she then explained, Erin raising an eyebrow, not sure if this was funny or rude, “he was quite fond of Vincent, but didn’t like Hieronymus much.”

“Can’t imagine why”, Erin dryly replied, then remembered her manners and cleared her throat, glad that the dim lighting of the bar hid her blush as she gestured at the glass, “and, um. Thanks. For the drink.”

“Don’t mention it”, the blonde dismissed it with a wave of her hand, then grinned again as she held said hand out to her, “just promise you won’t ever call me Jillian. I go by Holtzmann, or Holtz.”

“Erin”, the physicist replied, deciding not to give her last name, not quite sure why, but figuring it didn’t matter - Holtzmann seemed nice enough, but she didn’t look like the type who’d read physic journals, so she probably wouldn’t recognize the name anyway, “nice to meet you.”

“Likewise”, Holtzmann gave back, then leaned forward, Erin a bit taken aback at how closely the blonde suddenly was studying her, “but, not to be rude, you don’t look as if you’ve had a good day.”

“I haven’t”, Erin sighed, figuring that denying such an obvious truth wasn’t worth the effort, and telling herself it didn’t matter - she didn’t plan to become a regular at this bar, anyway, and so, she figured she wouldn’t see the blonde anymore after this day again anyway, “but I’d rather not talk about it. I came here to cheer up, not to dwell on sexist old men and useless boyfriends. Or, well, useless ex-boyfriends.”

“Cheered up you shall be then”, Holtzmann replied solemnly, only to grin widely a second later, “you want to hear a dirty joke, then?”

“...sure”, Erin agreed, finding herself smiling at the way the blonde beamed at her in response, her smile widening when Holtzmann cleared her throat, then struck a pose, as if she was about to recite poetry instead of telling jokes.

“Alright, so”, she said, “so a guy is sitting at the doctor’s office, right, and the doctor walks in and is like, Sir, I need you to stop masturbating. And the guy is like, But why? And the doctor says, Because I need to examine you!”

“Oh my God”, Erin brought out, not sure if she should giggle or be mortified; then, she decided to giggle, Holtzmann grinning happily at her reaction, and all at once, Erin felt better, suddenly glad that this woman had decided to sit with her and apparently was more than willing to spend time cheering her up, despite the fact they didn’t know each other at all.


	2. Chapter 2

Several hours, and several drinks later, Erin was getting to know Holtzmann much, much better than she ever would have anticipated.

They had gotten along very well, Holtzmann having tried very hard to cheer Erin up, and having been successful at it; and they had ended up leaving together, and when Holtzmann had asked Erin if she wanted to come back to her place with her, Erin had agreed at once, not hesitating for a second.

It had been years since she had done something like this with a woman, having repressed the bisexual part of her when she had made it her mission in life to fit in and to be respected at places like Columbia; for now, for the moment though, she didn’t care about fitting in anymore, only caring about how good it felt to kiss Holtzmann, to have the blonde’s hands running over her heated skin.

She could feel callouses on said hands, a sign that the blonde worked with them a lot, but her touch and her kisses still were gentle, so different to how it had felt when she had been with men; and Erin allowed herself to forget all about her worries as she just focused on Holtzmann, sighing into the blonde’s mouth when she felt her unbutton her blouse.

“You know”, Holtzmann mumbled as she pulled back from the kiss, interrupting herself to kiss the redhead’s throat and making her groan again, “already when I saw you at that bar, I was wondering how that blouse would look on my bedroom floor.”

“Did you now”, Erin wanted to know, sitting up just enough so Holtzmann could pull the blouse off of her fully, “why don’t you find out, then?”

“About to”, Holtzmann reassured her, then tossed the blouse over her shoulder; she took a moment to look at it, making Erin laugh at the appreciating look on her face, the blonde winking at her and grinning, then kissing her again, and once again, she forgot all about the world around her, just focused on how good this felt, eager to make the most of it as she was quite sure she wouldn’t feel any of this again any time soon once it’d be over.

* * *

For the next few weeks, Erin thought back to the night she had spent with Holtzmann whenever she felt down or disrespected at Columbia; she had snuck out early in the next morning, without Holtzmann realizing as the blonde still had been fast asleep, and she hadn’t been back to that certain bar since then, but despite the fact that it had been a one time thing with Holtzmann, it still made her feel good to think back to the time they had spent together.

Every now and then, she thought about going back, see if she’d find Holtzmann again, and maybe have another night with her; then, she always pushed those thoughts aside rigorously, and told herself that she couldn’t do this, that one time had been well and good, but she couldn’t make a regular thing of it.

And so, even though she often thought back fondly to how good Holtzmann had made her feel, she didn’t try to see her again; she also made sure to tell Phil that she wanted him out of her life, as much as it was possible with the of them working at the same university, and to her relief, it worked, the man staying away from her, at least respecting her wishes about the end of their relationship.

She wondered every now and then if he badmouthed her to their colleagues, but they didn’t treat her any differently than they had before; and so, even though she was annoyed about the fact she hadn’t gotten any farther with her quest for tenure, Erin settled into comfortable routine again, fondly thinking back to the time she had had with Holtzmann, but not having a desire to repeat the experience.

Then, the man showed up in her lecture hall, claimed that his building was haunted and that he had found that dreadful book online, and all her good mood vanished from one second to the next. 

Not even thinking of the time with Holtzmann made her feel better then, she was angry and upset, and that anger burned brightly as she rushed from the building and hailed a cab; and Erin made sure to keep the anger burning, knowing she’d have to yell at Abby when she’d arrive at the institute where her former best friend now was working. 

_ Don’t let what happened dull your anger,  _ she told herself while the cabbie drove, thankfully not one of those which felt the need to small talk,  _ and don’t think about your guilt. Just about the anger. She had no right to do this. _

Thinking like this helped her feed her anger, and so, she sounded fierce and confident when she found Abby and accused her of having put the book online without her permission; some of that anger was replaced with surprise when Abby claimed she didn’t need her permission, the surprise only growing and mixing with dismay when Abby then just left her standing there, rushing off to yell at the delivery service about her lunch.

_ Unbelievable,  _ she angrily thought to herself, not quite sure what to do though - she knew Abby, and knew that trying to talk to her again would lead nowhere, not when she was in a mood like this,  _ coming here was a waste of time. I should have known it would be, I should have known better than to think-- _

“Come here often?”

Erin spun around so fast she nearly gave herself whiplash, eyes widening; she didn’t even try to fool herself into believing she hadn’t recognized the voice immediately, not after how often she had thought about how said voice had sounded the last few days, especially when the owner of the voice had moaned her name.

“Holtzmann!” she blurted out, the blonde grinning at her in response and giving her a very familiar wink; and as if that had been some sort of secret signal, Abby finished her phone call and returned, apparently having noticed enough of their short exchange to come to her own conclusions.

“You know each other?” she wanted to know, and Erin wished for the ground to open beneath her feet and to swallow her whole, suddenly sure that Holtzmann would tell her how well Erin and she knew each other exactly; she didn’t notice how she held her breath when Holtzmann opened her mouth to answer, only letting it out in a relieved huff at what the blonde said.

“We’ve met”, was all Holtzmann told Abby, and to Erin’s relief, Abby just shrugged this off, and didn’t bother to ask when and how they had met; instead, she looked at Erin again, asking her in a rather indifferent tone what she was still doing here, the physicist huffing in response and crossing her arms over her chest, annoyed at how Abby seemed to think she’d done nothing wrong. 

“You have to take that book down”, she demanded, Abby just raising an eyebrow, saying more with that one expression than she could have with a thousand words, but Erin wasn’t willing to give up, not yet, “Abby, come on, please! I’m working hard to get tenure, and if anyone finds this book and sees I worked on it with you… People are already finding it! A man came to my work, claiming his building is haunted!”

Abby perked up immediately, and Holtzmann did, too, Erin belatedly realizing that perhaps, saying that hadn’t quite helped her case; before she could try to talk herself out of this, Abby figuratively pounced, demanding to know which man and which building she was talking about.

“Ed Mulgrave”, she said with a sigh, figuring she might as well be honest, “he owns Aldridge Mansion. They do tours there, and he claimed the guy doing those tours got attacked by a ghost.”

“Oooh”, Holtzmann let out, sounding quite excited - and quite a bit like she had when Erin had touched her a certain way, the physicist remembered, feeling her cheeks heat up at the thought, “a haunted mansion! A classic. Come on, let’s go!”

Already as she spoke, she ran to grab a silver duffel bag, Abby grabbing a bunch of other devices and gadgets; one of them, Erin thought to herself, looked like one of those machines which made cotton candy, but she knew better than to say this out loud, startled out of her musings about candy making machines when Holtzmann gave her an expecting look.

“You coming?” she then said, and Erin almost expected Abby to protest, to tell the blonde she didn’t want Erin there; instead, Abby pointed out she had to introduce them to this guy, so he would know they came on her recommendation and were not some random crazy persons. 

“Oh”, she let out, figuring that was a good point, “um… I’ll introduce you, yeah. But! I’ll only do it if you take the book down, Abby!”

“Okay, fine”, Abby gave back, rolling her eyes, “I’ll take it down, until you got your stupid tenure. Now let’s get moving!”

Erin figured that this was the best she could hope for, and so, she nodded; Holtzmann gave her a bright, happy grin, then took off running without another word, Abby right behind her, and Erin had to hurry to catch up, cursing her high heels as she tried to keep up with them - and blissfully unaware of what was waiting for them at the mansion.


	3. Chapter 3

“Holtzmann”, Erin said the moment Abby was out of earshot, her former best friend having wandered off to look at something or other in the mansion, faltering a bit though when the engineer looked at her, having to clear her throat before she could go on, “um… thank you. For not… telling Abby. About… our night together.”

“Why would I”, Holtzmann wanted to know, raising an eyebrow, “I don’t kiss and tell, you know. In principle, and not just because I think Abby wouldn’t have been amused.”

“Did you know?” Erin wanted to know in response, suddenly needing to know, even though she wasn’t sure what it might do to her, should Holtzmann tell her that yes, she had known who Erin was when she had slept with her; before Holtzmann could answer though, Abby called out for her -  _ just  _ for her, Erin noticed, but she refused to let this hurt her, telling herself she had just as much of a right to be here as the other two, not following Holtzmann though as she went to see what Abby needed, but remaining where she was, feeling awkward all at once, a feeling which wasn’t exactly new to her.

Instead of following, she remained where she was, feeling lost and awkward as she looked at her surroundings; and as if on cue, the heavy wooden door which allegedly lead to the basement swung open behind her, and she frowned as she turned to look at it, thinking back to how, just minutes ago, Abby had tried to open it and it hadn’t budged.

“Huh”, she let out, turning to take a step closer to the door, only to nearly fall as her foot slipped on something; she managed to stay on her feet in the last second and, frowning, bent over to look at what nearly had made her fall, frown deepening when she saw it was a puddle of green goo on the floor.

“What the…”, she mumbled to herself as she touched it, making a face at how cold it was; and when she straightened up again, the air around her seemed to cool down, too, enough so she could see her breath fog, and her ears popped, making her flinch as her eyes went wide.

She remembered all too well what it had meant when her room had gotten cold like this, and when her ears had popped like this, back when she had been little and haunted by her neighbour’s ghost.

“Abby!” she found herself crying out before she could think about, and perhaps try to convince herself this wasn’t happening; she heard how Abby and Holtzmann came running, but didn’t dare to look, not with the blue glow she could now see from the open basement door, barely registering the two women when they came to a nearly screeching halt next to her.

Not that they blamed her, because they couldn’t look away from the ghost either as it floated through the open door and into the hallway, smiling a sweet, benevolent smile at them.

“Oh my God”, Abby breathed, making sure to keep her camera on the ghost and to catch every movement of it on film, “that’s Getrude Aldrige! Oh my God, she’s so beautiful!”

“I’m going to talk to her”, Erin decided in response, not noticing how both Abby and Holtzmann looked at her in shock, “she seems peaceful, maybe we can communicate with her…”

“Be careful”, Holtzmann advised, Erin barely looking at her as she nodded; she took a slow step closer to the floating ghost, then another one, raising one hand slightly to show she was unarmed and harmless, managing to keep her voice surprisingly steady when she spoke up.

“Hi”, she began, figuring this was a good start, “I’m Erin Gilbert, Doctor of physics at--”

The ghost shrieked, loud enough to make all three jump - before it unhinged its jaw and, with an unpleasant wet sounding burst of laughter, began spewing slime, Erin finding herself unable to breathe all at once as the ice cold substance hit her.

She tried to bring her hands up in an attempt to keep the slime from getting into her eyes and mouth, struggling to not gasp at how cold it was - it already felt gross on her skin, she didn’t want to imagine how it would be to get that into her mouth. 

“Oh my God!” she heard Abby cry out, having to keep her eyes squeezed shut though so the slime wouldn’t get into them; then, the rain of goo stopped as fast as it had begun, and she heard the ghost cackle, a blast of coldness shooting past her as the ghost flew over them and through the nearest wall, vanishing from sight.

“Oh my God”, Abby repeated while Erin’s teeth started chattering, the cold goo now seeping through her clothes and onto her skin, “Erin! Are you okay?!”

“Fine”, Erin brought out between chattering teeth, Holtzmann moving to her side in concern, reaching out to touch her, but pulling her hand back quickly when she made contact with the slime and felt how cold exactly it was, “what just happened? Abby, what just happened?”

“We saw a ghost”, Abby replied, raising the camera for emphasis, “and I got it all on tape, Erin! We got it all on tape!”

“That is well and good”, Holtzmann interrupted when Erin went wide-eyed, the implications of what just had happened only slowly sinking in, “but this stuff is ice cold, and Erin is gonna catch the cold of a lifetime if we don’t get her into dry, warm clothes soon.”

“Good point”, Abby had to admit, Erin only able to nod, torn between several feelings now - astonishment and joy at the fact that they had seen and actually recorded a ghost, touched by how Holtzmann cared about her health, and disgust at the slime which covered her, and which by now had slipped inside her clothes, as well, even colder against her bare skin.

“Okay”, Abby went on, “let’s get back to the lab, we got spare clothes there. Erin, think you can hold on until then?”

Erin made herself nod again, even though she was starting to shiver from the coldness of the slime at this point; Holtzmann gave her a worried look, didn’t make a comment though, only leading the way to the mansion’s exit, Abby and Erin following right behind her, Erin belatedly realizing that Holtzmann never had answered her question, and finding herself wondering what the answer would have been, if they hadn’t been interrupted.


	4. Chapter 4

Quite a while later, Erin was slowly starting to feel warm again; they had made their way back to Abby and Holtzmann’s lab, and there, Holtzmann had found some clothes for her, loosely fitting sweat pants - which were a bit too short despite their loose fit - and a comfortable hoodie with the MIT logo on it, the physicist now nursing a mug of tea which was supposed to warm her from within while Abby reviewed the video and Holtzmann was busy putting the equipment away.

Now that some time had gone by, Erin fully realized what had happened in the mansion, and she couldn’t believe it - they had seen a ghost, an actual ghost, and Abby had caught it all on tape, too, all of it, the ghost and how the ghost had spewed slime all over her.

It had been disgusting to get slimed, and she easily could have lived the rest of her life without ever finding out how it felt to be puked on by a ghost; at the same time though, it had been oddly exhilarating, it had been  _ real _ , actual proof that she hadn’t made it up all those years ago, that she wasn’t crazy.

“Erin?” Holtzmann’s voice tore her out of her musings, and she was surprised enough by the unexpected company that she flinched; thankfully, she’d had enough of her tea so she didn’t spill any of it on herself, but Holtzmann still gave her a concerned look, apparently having been unaware of how deep in thought Erin had been when she had addressed her.

“Sorry”, the engineer apologized, making Erin smile a bit at how sheepish she suddenly looked, “I didn’t mean to startle you. Um… I just wanted to ask how you are feeling. And… I realized I never answered your question.”

Now that Holtzmann had said it, Erin realized that it was true - the ghost had appeared just after she had asked, and after what had happened with said apparition, she had been too distracted to wonder about what she had asked, but now that Holtzmann had brought it up again, she suddenly felt tense, wondering what the answer would be.

“I knew”, Holtzmann confessed, Erin gaping at her, not quite having expected that, “I wasn’t quite sure it’s really you, when I saw you at the bar, the photo on the book is a few years old but… When you introduced yourself, I knew.”

“So why didn’t you tell Abby?” Erin icily asked, her tone clearly not having been expected, as Holtzmann looked quite taken aback, “if you slept with me to get back at me for what I did to her?”

“What?” Holtzmann replied, blinking, so stunned that Erin couldn’t help herself, but just had to see her reaction as genuine, “that… Erin, that is not why I asked you to come home with me that night. I’ve read the book, when I started working with Abby, and… What you wrote in there, that was so brilliant, so when I met you at that bar, I thought it would be a chance to get to know you. I wanted to know more from that brilliant mind of yours, it was never my intention to…”

“Whatever”, Erin interrupted her, suddenly feeling tired and oddly betrayed, even though what Holtzmann had said had been oddly charming, “I never should have gone to this mansion with you. This whole… thing has been a mistake. Thanks for the clothes, I’ll send them back here as fast as possible.”

“Erin, wait”, Holtzmann still tried to stop her as Erin put the mug of tea down onto the table and got up, perhaps with a bit more force than necessary as the table wobbled noticeably, “I swear, I didn’t mean to…”

Erin looked at her hard enough to make her fall silent, and she fidgeted nervously, feeling uncomfortable now under the physicist’s steely glare; figuring that Holtzmann had nothing else to say, Erin moved past her, but just before she reached the door, Holtzmann spoke up behind her again, and Erin froze as she realized that the engineer was right.

“If I had done it to get back at you”, the blonde said, sounding uncomfortable just saying these words, only strengthening the impression that she meant it, “then why didn’t I tell Abby?”

Erin had no answer to that, but she didn’t have the strength to turn back and face Holtzmann, either; and so, she got moving again after another second, leaving the lab without another word, feeling Holtzmann’s eyes on her back until the door fell shut behind her, sounding louder than it should have.. and sounding as if it was putting an end to things before they’d had the chance to start.

* * *

Quite a while later, Erin sat in her quiet and oddly sterile apartment; she had changed from the clothes Holtzmann had given her into some comfortable clothing of her own, and now held the sweatshirt on her lap, her fingers running over the soft fabric absent-mindedly as she thought back to the last conversation she’d had with the engineer. 

Holtzmann had made a good point, she had to admit to herself, when she had pointed out that she would have told Abby, had she taken Erin home with her as part of some twisted game; she hadn’t told Abby though, not a word, and she had been honestly concerned when Erin had gotten slimed and had been shivering from the cold substance.

_ What you wrote in there, that was so brilliant, so when I met you at that bar, I thought it would be a chance to get to know you. _

It was hard to admit it to herself, but Erin was fairly certain that Holtzmann had meant it when she had said those words; and as the physicist pondered these things, she realized how soft exactly the sweatshirt beneath her fingers was, and she lifted it up for a closer look, belatedly realizing that this didn’t look and feel like some sweatshirt Holtzmann randomly had pulled from her stack of clothes.

The way the fabric felt showed that it was worn often, but still well taken care of; there were no holes or lose threads, no stains and the MIT logo on the chest looked a bit faded, but wasn’t damaged, either, unlike the other clothes Erin had seen Holtzmann wear, which all had had holes and stains and had shown much clearer signs of wear and tear.

It was a sweatshirt clearly treasured by Holtzmann, Erin realized, and she wondered what it meant that Holtzmann had given her this, of all things.

_ You know she’s right _ , a small, but loud part of her whispered as she studied the sweatshirt,  _ if it had been some sort of nasty prank, she would have told Abby. She didn’t. You know she didn’t, Abby would have reacted differently if she had. _

Now, she started to feel bad for how fast and rude she had left the lab, without giving Holtzmann a true chance to explain; she wasn’t quite sure how to make this right again, but as she looked at the sweatshirt and the pants, she knew she had one good reason to go back to the lab, and told herself that it would be the right thing to do, no matter how embarrassing it would be after her hasty exit.


	5. Chapter 5

“Holtzmann”, Abby sighed in the next afternoon, looking up from the comments and the number of hits on their video at the glum looking engineer, “will you finally tell me now what’s wrong? You’ve been so quiet all day, it’s all gloom and doom with you today, and I have no idea why.”

“It’s nothing”, Holtzmann gave back, the same response she had given each time Abby had asked her what was wrong during the day; Abby sighed, and obviously didn’t buy it, but knew better than to ask again, well aware that Holtzmann would only clam up further if she’d try to push.

“Alright”, she thus said, with another sigh, “don’t tell me. But you know you can, if you want to, yes?”

Holtzmann just shrugged, not wanting to admit that there was something which bothered her; Abby did suspect that it had something to do with Erin’s quick exit the previous day, but unless the engineer would change her mind and be willing to talk, she knew she wouldn’t find out, and forced herself to drop it for now, not wanting to make Holtzmann feel worse.

“Alright”, she thus said again, aware that she was repeating herself, but not able to help it, “I got a class to teach now, so I’ll be back later, okay?”

Holtzmann nodded this time, still looking glum; Abby gave her another worried look, then left the lab and headed to her class, the engineer waiting until she could be sure Abby was gone and wouldn’t come back before she let out a heavy sigh, listlessly toying with one of her tools as she stared at her current project. 

Erin’s reaction when she had admitted that she had known who the physicist was when she had talked to her at the bar had hurt, more than she had feared it might; she had considered to lie when Erin had asked her, but then had decided against it, something she regretted now though, wondering if she had destroyed everything with her honesty. 

The sound of the door opening distracted her from her musings, and she automatically looked over, expecting Abby to come back - it wouldn’t be the first time she had forgotten something she needed for class; to her endless surprise, her eyes met Erin’s instead, the redhead looking a bit nervous and even blushing, but not looking away, bravely holding Holtzmann’s gaze. 

“Um”, Erin let out after they just had looked at each other for a few long moments, “...hi.”

This wasn’t all too eloquent, she knew, she’d had a whole little speech prepared, but the moment she had looked into Holtzmann’s eyes, it all had vanished into nothingness, and she found herself at a total loss for words now.

Holtzmann looked tired, she registered, as if she hadn’t slept all night, and as if all the chaotic energy she had shown the previous day had been used up; she looked as tired as Erin herself felt, the physicist thought to herself, making her realize she hadn’t been the only one who’d suffered through a sleepless night.

“Hi”, Holtzmann remembered that it would be polite to answer; then, she fell silent, feeling awkward and weird, not quite sure what Erin wanted at the lab, not after how she had stormed off the previous day.

“I, uh, I brought the clothes you gave me yesterday”, Erin answered before Holtzmann actually had to ask, holding up her bag as if for emphasis, “the sweatshirt and the pants.”

“Oh”, Holtzmann let out, eying the bag, but making no move to get up from her seat; feeling awkward as well, Erin cleared her throat, then opened the bag and pulled out the clothes, moving closer to the engineer so Holtzmann could take them when she held them out to her.

“Thank you”, Holtzmann remembered her manners as she took them, unable to hold back a little barb though as she continued, “but, you know, there was no need to bring them here personally. You could have sent them with FedEx or something.”

“I could have, yes”, Erin admitted, blushing a bit, “but, well… I wanted to… apologize. For what happened yesterday. It was neither right, nor fair to assume these things about you and I’m really sorry.”

“Oh”, Holtzmann let out, not quite having expected that; she could tell it hadn’t been easy for Erin to say this, and from how the physicist was fidgeting now, she was nervous waiting for her response, but Holtzmann found it quite hard to figure out what the right response now was, clearing her throat somewhat noisily to win some precious seconds before she’d have to go on.

“Well, it’s okay”, she said, figuring that this was a good start, “I mean, I’m not quite sure where that idea came from in the first place, but… I’m glad we cleared that up.”

“Me too”, Erin agreed at once, glad that her apology had been accepted so fast; belatedly, both Holtzmann and she realized that she was still holding the clothes, Holtzmann quickly taking them from her and placing them on the desk next to her, the careful way she did so only strengthening the impression Erin had had that this wasn’t just some random sweatshirt the engineer had had lying around. 

“You timed this well, you know”, Holtzmann commented after a few seconds had ticked by in a somewhat uncomfortable silence, “Abby just left to teach class. And, before you ask, no, I still didn’t tell her, even though she kept asking me what was bothering me.”

“Thank you”, Erin mumbled, then sighed, giving the engineer an unhappy look, “and, you know, I’m not even sure why the idea of you telling her bothered me so much. It’s not like she doesn’t know I’m not perfectly straight, and after what I did to her…”

“Well, I’m not one to kiss and tell, either way”, Holtzmann pointed out, making the physicist smile slightly, “so I’m not gonna tell anyone anytime soon.”

Erin gave her another smile, not quite sure what she could say; Holtzmann grinned back at her, and she felt her cheeks heat up again, looking away in an attempt to regain some control - only for her gaze to fall onto the open laptop on Abby’s desk, and the webpage which had been left open there.

“What is…” she started, Holtzmann wincing as she already knew Erin wouldn’t be happy about this, “wait… Is this the video? From the mansion? With the ghost sliming me?”

“Yes”, Holtzmann knew there was no use in denying it; Erin blinked, then took a few steps closer to the laptop, eyes going wide when she realized that it had been uploaded to the internet and already had garnered quite the number of views.

“It’s all up there?” Erin finally asked, turning to look at Holtzmann again, “the whole thing…?”

“Yes”, Holtzmann confirmed again, feeling like ducking behind her workbench in case Erin might explode; for a few more seconds, the physicist just kept staring at her - before she unexpectedly smiled, and shrugged, tossing her briefcase onto the nearest chair, Holtzmann unable to stop herself from looking at her in surprise. 

“If anyone from Columbia sees this, I’ll be in trouble”, Erin said, sounding calmer than she should have, considering the words which had just come from her mouth, “but you know what? I don’t care. This is proof, proof that ghosts are real, that I wasn’t crazy all these years ago.”

“Yup, it is indeed”, Holtzmann was quick to agree, glad that Erin hadn’t reacted negatively to the video, “and hey, even if they do find out, what is the worst they can do? It’s not like they’re gonna fire you.”

Erin smiled, and nodded, and neither Holtzmann nor she had an idea how wrong the engineer was. 


	6. Chapter 6

“I got fired!” Erin said in exasperation as she practically stormed into the lab, both Holtzmann and Abby pausing their work, startled, “someone from Columbia saw that video, forwarded it to Filmore and I got fired!”

“Oh Erin, I’m so sorry”, Abby was the first to react, while Holtzmann could only stare, not having expected this the slightest - she hadn’t thought anyone from Columbia would see that video in the first place, and even if they did, she’d figured Erin would get off with a warning, and not be outright fired, “really, I am…”

Erin sunk down onto the nearest chair in response, looking so desolate it made Holtzmann’s heart clench up; she felt bad and awkward for not knowing what to say, but Erin apparently didn’t notice, speaking on after a moment, the anger now gone from her voice as resignation and tiredness took over. 

“After all the hard work I did!” she said, shaking her head, “and all the ass kissing, God, I kissed so many different asses… Oh, I bet it was Phil who ratted me out! Little weasel!”

“Who’s Phil”, Abby asked in confusion, making Erin realize that she had no idea what she was talking about; she cleared her throat, exchanging a brief look with Holtzmann as the engineer knew very well who Phil was, keeping her answer as brief as possible as she told Abby that the man was her ex.

“We didn’t have a very good breakup”, she added after a moment, “and, honestly, he wasn’t the best choice for a relationship in the first place, so it wouldn’t surprise me if it was him. Not that it matters much anymore…”

She sighed, the fact that she had been fired fully sinking in; she didn’t worry about money, not for the moment - Columbia had paid well, and she never had had that many expenses, thus having managed to put quite a bit aside - but she knew that universities of that level were tightly connected, and the reason for her firing might be spreading already, making sure she wouldn’t find employment anywhere else anytime soon. 

“You know what”, Abby said, eager to cheer Erin up, not liking it to see her so down and unhappy, and knowing her well enough to be aware of the fact that her thoughts were probably taking a dark turn in this very moment, “this is bad, it really is, but it’s an opportunity, too. We can go to the dean right now, tell him we want to hire you, I bet he would be thrilled to have you!”

This was pretty much the last thing Erin had expected, and she could only blink for a moment; then, she smiled and nodded, telling herself that Abby was right, that this was a opportunity and not the catastrophe she had thought it to be at first, and that certainly, everything would work out just fine. 

* * *

“I really thought this would work out”, Holtzmann sighed quite a while later, after they had made their escape with the equipment and parts they had “liberated” from the lab, as Holtzmann had called it, while Erin simply would have said it was stealing, “sorry about that, Erin…”

“Well, can’t be helped”, Erin said as she pushed a cart piled high with stolen items, Abby and Holtzmann right behind her, “I’m sure something else will come up. Where are we taking all this stuff?”

“My home”, Holtzmann told her, prompting her to raise an eyebrow, “I know how to store it without having it go boom, some of this stuff might not be exactly… stable.”

Erin almost asked her then how she wanted to store all of this in her home, having been there and knowing it wasn’t that big; she bit the words back at the last second though, flushing as she realized that she almost had revealed the fact that she knew Holtzmann’s home, knowing Abby wouldn’t have missed it and would have asked her if she had been there before. 

Thankfully, if Abby or Holtzmann would notice her blush and comment on it, she could blame it on the weight of the cart; neither of them said anything though, discussing where they could set up their lab instead, unable to come up with any realistic options though.

“I know a real estate agent”, Abby was saying, Holtzmann nodding along, “I’ll call her once we dropped this stuff off at your place and see if she has time for us in the next few days, I guess you don’t want this stuff around at your home for too long.”

“Eh, it’s fine”, Holtzmann shrugged, Erin moving along behind them, just listening to their talk, and trying very hard to not look at Holtzmann’s butt, “I’d rather have it at my home than at some random place where I can’t keep an eye on it. It’s gonna get a bit cramped, but I can deal with that.”

“Good to hear”, Abby smiled, then they all fell silent as pushing the carts wasn’t exactly easy work; at least, Erin thought to herself as she could feel sweat trickle down her back and fought to keep her breathing regular, Holtzmann didn’t live far from Higgins, and the elevator of her building worked, so they didn’t need to wrangle the carts up several flights of stairs.

“Alright”, Abby said once they had parked the carts in front of Holtzmann’s apartment door, “there we are. I’ll go call that real estate agent.”

“I’ll help Holtzmann, with putting the stuff away”, Erin said, a bit too fast and apparently a bit too chipper, as Abby gave her an odd look; the researcher didn’t make any comment though, merely nodding before she turned and headed outside, claiming that she’d have better reception on the sidewalk than inside the building.

“It’s nice of you to offer help, you know”, Holtzmann said, digging through her surprisingly many pockets until she found her keyring, Erin raising an eyebrow at the number of keys on it - a detail she hadn’t really been paying attention to when she had been here the first time, “but it’s not necessary, I can do this on my own. I don’t want to keep you from anything important.”

“I don’t have anything important to do”, Erin gave back with a shrug, “I got fired, remember? And I kinda feel bad because you guys got fired too, when you tried to help me. So…”

“This will end up as a giant circle of guilt or something”, Holtzmann said with a small laugh as she unlocked the door, then pushed one of the carts inside, gesturing at Erin to follow her, the physicist doing so, pushing another one of the carts into the apartment, “cause, you know, you only get fired because of the video we posted online. So we better stop with the blame game, before we end up crying on my couch.”

“We don’t want that, no”, Erin agreed with a giggle of her own, making Holtzmann grin brightly at her; she felt her cheeks heat up in response, but smiled back at the engineer as she moved to help her with putting away the equipment and various devices, for the moment not caring anymore that she had been fired and that she had no idea how her life would continue from now on.


	7. Chapter 7

As it turned out, the real estate agent Abby knew did have a place for them, a former firehouse which would have been perfect for their needs and plans; when Erin heard how much the rent was though, she reacted with a very uncharacteristic “go to Hell!”, feeling bad immediately at the real estate agent’s reaction and even worse when she had to tell the woman they couldn’t afford that. 

At least, the woman didn’t outright tell her to get lost, then, but let her know that she had another, smaller object on offer; when she asked if the smell of Chinese food offended them, Erin felt a bit concerned, but shook her head, figuring that they had to take what they could get for now, and ideally what they could afford for a while - she had saved up quite a bit of money, but that wouldn’t last forever, especially not with her job at Columbia no longer existing and no longer providing a stable income.

The space to rent above a Chinese restaurant they were shown next wasn’t ideal, but it was cheap, and would work for them, at least for the moment; and so, they signed the lease, then went to get all of the equipment from Holtzmann’s apartment, quickly realizing they had to stow all those things carefully and efficiently if they wanted to have it all in their new lab.

It felt weird to think of this place as “their lab”, Erin realized as she unpacked the few boxes she had brought for herself, mostly containing her books, markers and other materials she needed for the theoretical side of their work; just a few days ago, she had been a professor at Columbia, on tenure track, and now, here she was, in a private lab with a crazy engineer and the woman who had been her best friend so many years ago, to study the paranormal and ghosts, and if anyone had told her a week ago this would happen, she would have laughed and called them crazy.

And yet, here she was, she pondered as she placed her stuff on the small desk she had claimed as hers, carefully aligning her various pens, markers and notebooks; she glanced at the wall behind her, wondering if there was enough space for a whiteboard as she preferred working on those to the smaller notebook pages, but before she could come to a decision, music started blaring behind her, and made her jump, her eyes wide when she turned back around. 

It came from Holtzmann’s desk, because of course it did, Erin thought to herself; and apparently, gaining her attention had been exactly what the engineer had been going for, as she held eye-contact with her now - and started to dance, of all things, grinning in a way which made Erin’s knees feel oddly weak as the physicist found herself unable to look away. 

In an attempt to hide the effect the dancing had on her, Erin leaned onto her desk with both hands; it was neither graceful, nor subtle, but it didn’t seem to bother Holtzmann, as the engineer just kept dancing, now adding blowtorches to her little act, Erin feeling quite uneasy at how she twirled them and spun them around. 

“Okay”, she said, eying the blowtorches with concern, “dancing is all well and good, but let’s be safe, alright? We don’t want to set our new place on fire, do we?”

Holtzmann apparently had other ideas, as just in this second, she did set something on fire, namely a roll of paper towels which had been sitting on her desk; Erin let out a very un-professor like squeak, then rushed for the fire extinguisher she fortunately had seen Holtzmann unpack earlier, aiming at the flame with a surprisingly steady hand, the engineer letting out a small “awww” when Erin pushed down the trigger and put out the fire.

“That was reckless, Holtzmann”, Erin chided as she turned to face the blonde, “you could have burned…” 

She trailed off as she realized how  _ close _ Holtzmann suddenly was to her, standing so close to her that their bodies almost touched; and before she could stop herself, her gaze flickered down to Holtzmann’s lips, and judging from how said lips curled in a smile, the engineer had noticed.

Erin felt her cheeks heat up again, and cursed herself for her tendency to blush so much; she didn’t step back though, and neither did Holtzmann, and all at once, Erin was sure that they would kiss any moment now, like they had at Holtzmann’s home after they had met at the bar, and the mere thought made her heart beat so fast that she found herself wondering what would happen to it once their lips would actually touch.

“I got the flyers done!” Abby announced, and Erin hastily took a step back as her friend’s unexpected arrival snapped her out of the trance-like state she had been in; Holtzmann looked a bit dismayed at the interruption, quickly started to smile again though at how proudly Abby waved the flyers around, then practically shoved one into Erin’s hands so the physicist could take a look at it.

“If you see something, say something”, she read out loud, Holtzmann raising an eyebrow as that slogan was oddly familiar; and she quickly realized why, Erin clearing her throat before she pointed out that this was from an anti-terrorist campaign, Abby making a face as she realized that Erin was right.

“So that is why people keep calling about suspicious backpacks”, she pondered out loud, “good to know, but damn, I thought this slogan is really catchy.”

“I love the green paper”, Erin tried to make her feel better, “very fitting, reminds me of the ectoplasm I got puked all over me. Um, in a good way.”

“Thank you”, Abby smiled, then took a critical look at the slogan again, “but we really need to find another slogan. If you guys think of anything, let me know.”

She wandered off again, Erin looking after her for a moment - before her gaze moved back to Holtzmann, the engineer unaware of this though as she had gone back to unpacking her stuff, the moment between them having passed without anything coming from it, and Erin found herself more dismayed about this than she would have anticipated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I probably won't be online much tomorrow, so Happy New Year everyone :D


	8. Chapter 8

As it turned out, there was no chance for another moment between Erin and Holtzmann to happen, as a lady named Patty showed up and claimed she had been chased by a ghost; and so, for the second time in just a few days, Erin found herself on a ghost hunt, not in a pretty old mansion this time, but in a subway tunnel, the physicist pondering how she would have preferred another mansion as she tried not to breathe too deeply, the smell in the tunnel not exactly pleasant. 

“Sorry about the odour”, Patty commented as she led them deeper into the tunnel, making Erin feel a bit weirded out as that made it seem as if Patty had read her mind, “I know it’s not very nice, but this is where I saw the ghost. When I was chasing some guy who had gone onto the tracks.”

“That guy didn’t die and turn into this ghost, right”, Erin wanted to know, a bit worried about the idea of facing the malevolent spirit of someone who had committed suicide; Patty shook her head to that though, then told her she had no idea what the guy actually had been doing, as the ghost had forced her to retreat before she had been able to find out. 

“You guys”, Holtzmann commented from behind them, where she was pushing the cart with the equipment she claimed they could use to capture the ghost, “the hair at the back of my neck just stood up and my ears popped.”

As if on cue, the same happened to Erin, and from how Abby flinched and Patty made a face, they had felt it, as well; and a second later, a bright blue glow filled the tunnel ahead of them, the four women freezing as the ghost materialized, glaring at them from glowing red eyes. 

“This is getting more and more unsettling”, Erin brought out with a slight tremble in her voice as the ghost floated closer; she could hear Holtzmann do something with the equipment behind her, but didn’t dare take her eyes off the ghost, only to end up looking anyway when Holtzmann pushed a bulky, heavy thing into her arms which looked disconcertingly like a cannon. 

“Aim this at the ghost”, the engineer instructed, Erin giving her an uneasy look, unease only growing when the blonde put a sort of collar around her neck, “and push this trigger here when I tell you to, then it will shoot a proton beam to capture the ghost. This is just a bit of grounding so you don’t die immediately.”

“What?” Erin squeaked, not daring to turn hre head to look at Holtzmann as the engineer moved to close the collar behind her neck; Holtzmann patted her shoulder reassuringly in response, then asked her if she knew her iron level, reassuring Erin that it was fine when the physicist replied that she didn’t. 

“You have done this before, right”, Patty wanted to know, looking only more concerned when she didn’t get a proper answer from any of the other three; the ghost was getting steadily closer though, and there was no time to ask again as Holtzmann moved to the keyboard built into the contraption she had brought along and started typing, Abby giving her an impatient look as this was taking longer than she would have liked. 

“Almost there”, Holtzmann said in a reassuring tone, glancing up at the approaching ghost before her gaze focused on the keyboard again, “just a few more seconds… and… Erin, fire!”

Erin wasn’t quite sure this was a good idea, quite certain that this enormous weapon she was holding hadn’t been properly tested; the ghost was still approaching though, and didn’t look exactly friendly, and so, she pushed the trigger button, amazed when a bright stream of energy shot from it and towards the ghost.

Her amazement didn’t last for long though, as the stream curved downwards just a few feet from her, sizzling as it hit the ground, nowhere near the ghost.

“Oh, whomp whomp”, Holtzmann let out, making a face, “that didn’t go as planned… Okay, we need a more juice, I just have to…”

She focused on the keyboard again, typing hurriedly, then told Erin to try again; and this time, the stream went farther and had more energy, brightening up the tunnel as it hit the ghost and wrapped around it, the apparition snarling and struggling in response.

“Yes!” Abby cheered, while Erin struggled to keep the weapon steady, the weight getting to her, but she didn’t want to imagine what would happen if the ghost managed to break free; it looked decidedly angry at having been ensnared like this, growling and swiping at the air in front of it as it struggled against the beam to get closer.

And as if that wasn’t bad enough, the tunnel behind it lit up, Patty sounding alarmed when she called out to them, warning them that this was the train and that it wouldn’t stop in this station.

“We gotta get back to the platform, quick!” she added, already moving to Erin’s side and grabbing one of her arms; Abby took hold of the other, and Holtzmann grabbed the equipment cart, the three of them rushing back to the platform a moment later while Erin struggled to stay on her feet as they dragged her along, and to keep the weapon aimed at the ghost. 

“Hurry!” she cried out as the train and the ghost both approached; she heard Abby call out something about the platform, then she was pulled off the tracks and into the relative safety of the area right next to the platform, the train now honking as it approached, either at the ghost or the equipment cart still on the tracks, Erin wasn’t quite sure and didn’t want to find out.

“The collar!” she heard Holtzmann from somewhere behind her, belatedly realizing that said collar was still around her neck, connecting her to the cart - the cart which still was on the track, she realized with terror, the train steadily approaching it; she felt Holtzmann’s hands at her neck, then the engineer practically ripped off the collar, taking a few hairs with it, and threw it onto the tracks, with as much power as she could bring up.

The train hit the cart mere seconds later, and the ghost right along with it; it exploded into an impressive amount of green goo - which mostly landed on Erin, because of course it did, she sourly thought to herself - and then it was gone, Patty shaking her head as she commented that the ghost was probably the third scariest thing on that train. 

“Oh my God, did you see this”, Abby cried out enthusiastically, clapping her hands in delight - before she realized that the slime was covering most of Erin’s face and grimaced, starting to wipe it off around the general area of her eyes and mouth, “we had it! The stream had it captured!”

“I almost got killed”, Erin pointed out, feeling a reassuring rub of her back, not quite sure who it was though, Abby or Holtzmann, part of her hoping it was Holtzmann; finally, enough of the slime had been removed so she could dare open her eyes, and she grimaced as she realized that she was covered in the green goo once again.

“Okay”, Holtzmann said behind her, sounding so excited that she momentarily managed to distract Erin from her dismay about the slime, “that almost worked. We need more energy, and we need to be more mobile. I know what to do.”

The touch vanished from Erin’s back, and she heard Holtzmann clap her hands - and so, as she realized that it had been the engineer, her heart warmed, and she found herself not caring about the slime anymore at all.


	9. Chapter 9

“This is becoming some sort of thing, it seems”, Erin commented as she sat down in one of the booths, hair still moist from the shower, “me borrowing your clothes, I mean.”

“Well, they do look good on you”, Holtzmann told her, smirking when Erin blushed visibly, “and we can’t have you walk around our fancy new lab in slimed clothes now, can we?”

“Guess not”, Erin had to agree, even though she wouldn’t have quite described the lab as “fancy”; her agreement made Holtzmann smile again though, and she felt her heart skip a beat, glad that at least, her cheeks didn’t heat up any further.

_ Don’t be ridiculous _ , she chided herself, while Holtzmann went back to working on whatever it was she was working on, Erin couldn’t quite tell from where she was sitting,  _ you’ve  _ slept  _ with this woman, for crying out loud, so why get so nervous now when she smiles at you? Granted, it was a one night stand and you thought you’d never see her again, but still. _

Eager to distract herself from her own thoughts, she decided she might as well take a closer look at what Holtzmann was working on; what she hadn’t taken in account though was the fact that this brought her even closer to the engineer, the two standing side by side now, and Erin was close enough to the younger woman that she could take in her scent. 

She already had liked said scent, she remembered, when they had met for the first time, back at the bar; now she knew that it was oddly fitting for Holtzmann, matched her eccentric personality with the strange mixture of motor oil, lemon and something weirdly musky, but even when she hadn’t known much about the engineer, she had liked her scent.

_ This was a bad idea _ , she had to realize as Holtzmann explained what she was working on, and Erin tried to listen, she really did, but she found herself too distracted by being so close to the engineer; and so, she was almost grateful when Abby came to join them, carrying something she had picked up in the subway tunnel, probably when Erin had been distracted by the fact that she had been wielding an untested laser cannon. 

“Look at this”, Abby said, and Erin more than gladly did, thankful for anything which distracted her from Holtzmann and the tingling the engineer caused all over her body, “I found this at the subway tunnel. Doesn’t look like it belonged there, and it spit sparks when our transparent friend appeared.”

“Let me look at that?” Holtzmann asked, Abby handing it to her more than willingly; it was obvious that whatever the device had done to make the ghost appear had burned it out, the metal darkened and covered in soot, but Erin could tell that Holtzmann could get something from it anyway, frowning at it as she studied it.

And a second later, she poked out her tongue and licked it, Erin only able to gape at her while Abby rolled her eyes, then reached out and took the device back, giving Holtzmann a strict look when the engineer responded by making grabby hands at it.

“No”, she then said, even wagging her finger, as if she was talking to a misbehaving pet, Erin finding herself unable to hold back a smile, “I won’t give it back to you if you’re gonna lick it! You don’t know where that has been, Holtz.”

“Actually, I know exactly where it has been”, Holtzmann pointed out, “namely, in the subway tunnel. On the other hand though I don’t know where it has been before it has been placed there, so you got a point after all, Abby.”

Abby just rolled her eyes again, Erin’s smile widening when Holtzmann winked at her; and while she might have missed the almost-kiss moment before their trip to the subway tunnel, Abby noticed the wink, raising an eyebrow as she looked from Erin to Holtzmann and then back at Erin. 

“Since when are you so cavalier when it comes to reckless behaviour”, she wanted to know, Erin starting to sweat as she realized she had no answer to that - she wasn’t ashamed of the fact that she had slept with Holtzmann, and she certainly didn’t regret it, either, but she didn’t want Abby to find out over a dispute if objects found in the subway tunnel could be licked or not. 

“I operated an untested laser cannon in a subway tunnel while a train was approaching and a malevolent ghost was out to kill us all”, she thus said the first thing which came to her mind, glad that it at least made sense, as crazy as the sentence itself had sounded, “I think that is a bit more reckless than licking this… thing.”

“Well yeah”, Abby had to admit, figuring that this was a good point, “but you only did so because Holtzmann literally pushed it into your hands, I doubt you would have volunteered if she hadn’t.”

“Probably not”, it now was Erin’s turn to admit something; Abby grinned in triumph while Holtzmann pouted for a second, quickly brightening up again though as she leaned closer to the device Abby still was holding, giving her best innocent look at the strict one she received from the researcher.

“No licking”, Abby told her, then let her have it once again; and as Holtzmann studied it, Erin leaned closer to the device, as well, sniffing at it, not displeased when she caught a whiff of Holtzmann’s scent as well. 

“This smells like ionic discharge”, Erin pointed out, Abby frowning before she leaned in to check for herself while Holtzmann nodded her agreement; and a second later, Abby told Erin that she was right, and that this pretty much cemented the fact that this thing had nothing to do with the subway, the three women frowning at it in perfect unison afterwards.

“This might have something to do with what happened, with the ghost”, Abby was the one to say out loud what they all had been thinking, “what if this device somehow… caused the ghost to appear? Strengthened the energies it had, or weakened the barrier?”

“I bet it was put there by the creepy guy who went onto the tracks”, a fourth voice chimed in, making them all jump; they turned to look at this newcomer and where somewhat surprised to find Patty sitting there, the woman beaming at them as she gestured at something on her laptop.

“He was talking about the fifth cataclysm”, she added, not perturbed by the surprise on the other three’s faces, “now that sounds like a franchise no one wants.”

“Um”, Erin was the first to find her voice again, “welcome… back? Patty, right? Did the ghost show up again?”

“Oh, no, it didn’t”, Patty replied at once, only confusing the other three more, “I’m joining the club!”

“Oh”, Abby let out, while Holtzmann looked quite interested now, “well… it’s not really a club. More of a research group.”

As it turned out, Patty knew very well that it wasn’t exactly a club, but made some good points, pointing out her knowledge of New York as an asset and the fact that she could get them a car; and quite quickly, it was decided that she would indeed join them, and even  though she usually didn’t believe in things like fate and destiny, Erin caught herself thinking that this was how it was supposed to be, that now, it was as it should be, not quite sure where this was coming from, but convinced that it was true and that everything was going to go right for them now.


	10. Chapter 10

Patty did get them a car, as she had promised, and once they had gotten over the fact that it was a hearse, Holtzmann gleefully got to work on it, claiming she was going to make it suitable for the work they had to do; this worried Patty for a bit, but then she caught sight of how Erin watched Holtzmann head off to the garage, raising an eyebrow at the dreamy look on the physicist’s face.

“Oh”, she let out, making Erin look at her questioningly, “you two are an item then? I had no idea, but now that I think about it, you two were quite close in the subway tunnel.”

“Uh, uhm, what?” Erin stammered, shocked by how fast Patty picked up on this, even though at the moment, there wasn’t actually anything going on between Holtzmann and herself; her mind raced as she tried to figure out what to say to this, but before she could come up with anything, Abby let out a snort of laughter, then shook her head, still grinning when she was the one to speak up. 

“Erin and Holtzmann?” she said, snickering again, sounding a bit too amused by the idea for Erin’s liking, not noticing the physicist’s slight frown though, “sorry, Patty, no offense, but this is as unlikely to happen as a pig flying right through this window.”

“Oh”, Patty made again, giving Erin a look as if she couldn’t quite believe that, “okay…? Sorry then, Erin, I sort of assumed…”

“No problem”, Erin quickly said, even managing a smile, hoping it didn’t look as fake as it felt on her face, but judging from how Abby raised an eyebrow at her now, it probably didn’t look all too real, “no offense taken. But, no, Holtzmann and I, we are not an item.”

_ We did have sex one time,  _ she mentally added, but didn’t say this out loud; apparently, Abby saw  _ something _ on her face though, as she gave Erin another scrutinizing look, Erin quickly hiding her face behind the first piece of paper she managed to grab as she felt her cheeks heat up. 

“You scientists are weird”, Patty declared, having picked up on the strange tension between Erin and Abby - which was different from the tension she had noticed between Holtzmann and Erin, but she was certain it had been there, knowing that she was good at reading people, “I’ll go see what Holtzy is doing to that car, before she makes a mess of it.”

“Oh, no no no”, Abby said, shaking her head for emphasis, “you do not want to go in there when she’s in the middle of working, she can get… intense. She’ll let us know when the car’s ready, and she won’t make a mess of it, I can promise you that.”

Patty looked sceptical, but didn’t try to protest, figuring that Abby knew Holtzmann well enough to know what she was talking about; and behind her piece of paper, Erin smiled as she’d interrupted Holtzmann’s work before, and had never felt anything but welcome by the engineer, and all at once, she knew that this meant something good.

* * *

It took quite a while for Holtzmann to re-emerge from the garage, and when she did, she had worked up quite a sweat, having removed her jacket, Erin finding herself staring at her well-defined arms and shoulders, not even bothered by the grease, feeling quite fortunate about the fact that Holtzmann had been wearing a sleeveless top beneath her jacket.

Belatedly, she remembered she wasn’t alone in the room, and that Patty already had noticed something when she had seen her look at Holtzmann for the first time; and so, she quickly looked away again, cursing herself for her tendency to blush when she felt her cheeks heat up, hoping it wasn’t as visible as it felt. 

At least, Erin thought to herself as she risked a brief glance at Patty, it didn’t seem as if she had noticed her staring; she was busy talking to someone on the phone, and while that conversation would have provided good distraction from Holtzmann and how good she looked, Erin told herself it was rude to listen in on other people, forcing herself to focus on her work again instead, even though the numbers didn’t make much sense right now, not with how much she was distracted by Holtzmann’s bare arms and shoulders.

_ If it was just the two of us, I’d ask her if she needs help washing off that grease,  _ Erin thought to herself, a bold thought she found herself a bit surprised by, but then, she told herself, it was easy to be bold in her mind, as it wasn’t very likely that she’d end up alone with Holtzmann anytime soon.

“I gotta head out for a bit”, Patty said a second later, Erin blinking, oddly feeling as if the universe was about to make her eat her words, “I’m meeting a friend from the MTA, to get some protective gear for the next time we’re confronting a slimy ghost.”

“Oh I’ll come with you”, Abby offered, already rising from her seat, and if Erin hadn’t known better, she would have been sure they were conspiring against her, “Erin, Holtz, you guys will be fine here for a while, yes?”

“Sure”, Erin squeaked, nearly cringing at how high her voice had sounded; and while Patty might not have picked up on it, Abby did notice, raising an eyebrow at her, not making any comments though, simply letting her know instead that she would take her cell phone and that they should call her the moment anything - like another ghost - came up.

And just like that, they were gone, and it was just Erin and Holtzmann at the lab, the physicist feeling decidedly warmer as she realized that this was the first time she was alone with Holtzmann ever since they had brought all the gear to her apartment. 

“Oh, yikes”, Holtzmann chose this moment to speak up, studying herself and shaking her head, “look at me, I look as if I’ve crawled around on and beneath a car for hours. Oh, wait, that is exactly what I did.”

“I can’t wait to see the finished product”, Erin told her, figuring that this was a safe thing to say; it made Holtzmann grin at her though, and that was bad, because that grin made her feel decidedly weak in the knees, and she was glad that she was sitting down.

“Urch”, she let out, letting her head drop down onto the desk; this unexpected and somewhat unexplained behaviour gave Holtzmann some cause for concern, the engineer moving over to where Erin was sitting and reaching out to touch her, remembering in the last second though that there was grease on her fingers and realizing that Erin certainly wouldn’t be happy to get said grease onto her clothes.

“Are you okay?” she thus asked instead; Erin let out an unarticulated groan in response, then raised her head, eyes narrowing as she realized how close Holtzmann was to her, close enough that she once again could take in her scent.

And before Erin could allow herself to think about it, and perhaps make herself change her mind, she came to her feet, practically yanked Holtzmann closer and kissed her; and to her  delight, Holtzmann needed a mere second to register what was happening and to react, kissing her back at once, forgetting all about the grease stains on her hands and arms as she pulled Erin closer to herself. 

As it turned out, Erin didn’t mind getting grease on her clothes… and Holtzmann did need help with washing said grease off.


	11. Chapter 11

When Abby and Patty came back, Holtzmann was at her workbench, working on some mysterious part she claimed she needed for the modifications she wanted to put onto the car, and Erin was sitting at her own desk, studiously working; there was soft music playing in the background, and it looked as if both had been quite productive while Abby and Patty had been gone.

It looked perfectly normal, innocent even, and still Abby stopped dead the moment she laid eyes on the two. 

“Okay”, she finally said, after just studying them for a few moments, “what exactly happened while Patty and I were gone?”

“Hm?” Erin innocently gave back, looking up from her work while Holtzmann studiously kept her focus on her tools and the device in front of her, “what do you mean, Abby?”

“Something is different”, Abby claimed, eying Erin, then looked at Holtzmann, eyes narrowing as the engineer kept her focus on her work a bit too deliberately; Erin cleared her throat, making Abby look at her again, and smiled innocently, for a moment considering to bat her eyelashes for added effect, then deciding against it, figuring that would go a bit too far. 

Patty looked a bit lost while Abby made her claims, looking from one of the women to the next, and having her suspicion that they all were a bit crazy confirmed; and a moment later, she nearly burst into laughter as Erin smiled again, the redhead sounding light-hearted when she finally replied to Abby’s claim that something was different.

“Well, you know”, she said, from the corner of her eye noticing how Holtzmann started smirking to herself at the workbench, but not looking over at the engineer, wanting to see Abby’s reaction, “you might want to open a window, just in case a pig comes flying in.”

“What”, Abby flatly gave back, looking from Erin at a smirking Holtzmann, the physicist having told her about Abby’s words after their shared shower, “are you saying… No way.”

“Yes way”, Holtzmann commented, finally stopping her all too focused work to grin at the researcher, Erin nodding her agreement, “and no, before you ask, this is not some sort of weird prank.”

“Ha”, Patty let out, grinning as well, “I knew it! I should have trusted my gut, I was totally right.”

“Well, sort of”, Erin told her, Abby raising an eyebrow, apparently still finding it hard to believe, despite having been assured by both Erin and Holtzmann now that it was true and that it was not some sort of prank, “we, uh… we’d met before. Before I discovered the book online? Imagine my surprise when I entered that lab and Holtzmann was sitting there.”

“Oh my God!” Abby caught on quickly this time, eyes going wide behind her glasses, “you had a  _ one night stand _ ? With Holtzmann?”

“Yes”, Erin gave back, not quite sure how to feel at Abby’s obvious surprise about this, “why are you so surprised? It’s not like this was the first time I went home with someone for one night.”

“It is for me!” Abby pointed out, looking at her as if she was seeing her for the first time, “you never did that in the time we knew each other!”

Erin realized that this was right, only having started this after Abby and she had stopped speaking; not sure what to respond now, she just shrugged, glad when Abby apparently decided to drop the topic for now, as her gaze moved from Erin to Holtzmann, then back to Erin, a curious look on her face when she asked what this was then, now.

“So are you guys dating?” she added, Erin finding it hard to guess what she would think of the idea, “or was it a one time thing?”

“We’re dating”, Erin clarified, exchanging a smile with the engineer, “and, honestly, it took us longer than it should have to reach this conclusion.”

“I knew it”, Patty said again, looking smug now, “I shouldn’t have listened to you, Abby, I have a good radar about these things and it was right.”

“Well”, Abby gave back after a moment, “I never would have guessed that, of all things. But! I’m happy for you, guys. I think you’ll be good for each other.”

Erin felt relieved at hearing this, only now realizing how nervous she had been about Abby approving of the relationship; and from the way Holtzmann grinned at her, she could the engineer felt the same, the researcher’s approval as important to her as it was to Erin. 

“Thank you”, Erin said, earning a bright smile from her friend - before Abby clapped her hands and reminded them that they had work to do, that there was someone out there who made ghosts stronger and endangered innocent people, someone who had to be stopped as soon as possible.

They all nodded their agreement to that, knowing Abby was right; Holtzmann still took a moment to steal a quick kiss from Erin before she went back to work, and as Erin went back to her own task, she was confident that everything would work out fine, that they would stop whoever was responsible and that they’d put an end to the danger up ahead.

And she was sure that things between Holtzmann and herself would work out just fine, as well, somehow just knowing that they were at the beginning of something wonderful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And it's done XD Let me know what you thought :D I got another AU ready, a much longer and more complicated one - let me know if you guys want to read it :)


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